Abstract :
The purpose of this study was to investigate (1) the relationship between critical
thinking skills (CTS) and critical thinking dispositions (CTD), and (2) the
effectiveness of different levels of instructional strategy (asynchronous online
discussions (AODs), CTS instruction via AODs, and CTS instruction with CTD
cultivation via AODs) in improving students’ CTS and CTD. A pretest and
posttest quasi-experimental design was employed to achieve this purpose. The
participants in this study were 220 students enrolled in a general education
course at a large university in Taiwan. The findings of this study were as
follows: (1) the overall relationship between CTS and CTD was positive.
However, further analysis of the relationship between the different levels of
CTS and CTD showed that only the students with high CTS and medium CTD
showed a significant correlation; (2) the enhancement in CTS reinforced CTD,
but the improvement in CTD did not increase the level of CTS. In addition, it is
recommended that to improve the CTS and CTD of all students (including the
students with a high level of CTS), the instructional strategy, CTS instruction
with CTD cultivation, be employed.
